Beta Testing
by nekofudanshi
Summary: Ciel Phantomhive isn't simply the owner of multinational gaming giant Funtom Games - he moonlights as a grey-hat hacker under unofficial employment of SIS and Her Majesty The Queen. (Modern day Kuroshitsuji AU, currently gen but eventual mild Sebaciel)
1. Introduction

Sebastian heard the familiar female voice announcing 'Funtom Games' from several rooms away, despite the TV volume being turned down to the lowest level possible. He sighed, and put down the schedule he had been working on, approaching his master's room quietly, not bothering to knock as he entered.

"It is 2am. If you don't switch that off, you won't be awake enough to talk with your developers tomorrow."

Ciel's eyes didn't leave the screen as he replied, "I have to test it thoroughly, else I won't be able to give them any meaningful feedback." His eyes didn't leave the screen as he defiantly pressed 'Continue?' on the level he'd been forced to abandon hours before.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. Since Ciel had taken over his parents' gaming company 5 years previously, he had faced much criticism and doubt - most believed the company would crash and burn without his mother and father around to run it, following their tragic death. And, of course, with a child as young as him being kidnapped at the same time as the loss of his parents, nobody expected him to take over, assuming he would likely be in no fit state to head a multinational business empire.

There weren't many, if any, naysayers left nowadays. The business had not only survived, but flourished under the control of someone who was both their target demographic, and a descendant of a pair of the most innovative developers so far this century.

But, talented businessman or not, 15 year olds need sleep at 2am.

Sebastian didn't bother arguing any further, resorting instead to simply unplugging the console swiftly, holding it above his head so the considerably shorter teenager couldn't grab it back (despite his attempts at jumping and climbing up Sebastian's back) and walking out of the room with it, returning to his own bedroom, locking it securely in a fingerprint safe designed and acquired specifically for nights like these.

Ciel huffed and plonked himself down on Sebastian's bed as the safe light turned red, arms folded petulantly.

"I still have my laptop and my tablet and my phone and my handhelds. I'm not sleeping."

Sebastian smiled politely and asked, "I thought this was about playtesting and getting work done, not a bedtime tantrum?"

Ciel's face turned sour at that, before he stormed off noisily through the house (no doubt waking the other servants, although they were wise enough by now to know that the best course of action in these times was to stay in bed and let Sebastian deal with him), throwing himself into bed.

"Do I have to watch you to ensure you actually go to bed?"

"No."

"Well I' m going to anyway."

Ciel ignored him from that point onward. Sebastian waited for around half an hour, listening to his master's breathing until he was satisfied that he was actually truly asleep, and not just faking in order to make him leave. He had a particular talent for doing that.

The next morning was blissfully drama free after the initial struggle to wake Ciel. The meeting with his developers went smoothly - he was clearly bluffing about needing to playtest it more by how smoothly and in-depth he spoke about the things that needed improved and changed (of course, Sebastian already knew that, but it was nice to have confirmation).

After the meeting with the company, he had further business in London, meeting with his... Other company. They insisted on face-to-face meetings - they were both high targets for interception, so an email or text wouldn't be sufficient, especially when giving Ciel a task that likely contained sensitive information.

Sebastian opened up an umbrella tactfully as they exited the inconspicuous 4x4 (tinted windows, of course), shielding their identities from a nearby paparazzi. Most of the time they got away without being harassed in public simply by dressing Ciel in casual baggy clothes with a hat and sunglasses, as he always wore the finest designer clothing and his trademark eyepatch in press conferences, but you could never be too careful, especially not when dealing with these people.

The interior of the building was far too nicely polished for a place that had only two people in the lobby, both of them nodding at the pair as they entered, not needing to ask them for identification. They followed a long hallway they were well-acquainted with, to a black door at the very end, and opened it slowly, entering a dark room with only one chair in front of a pane of tinted glass - beyond the glass, there were a pair of shadowy figures, but the setup of the room rendered it impossible to make out any distinguishing details. Perhaps the phrase 'face-to-face' was inaccurate, but that was what they called these meetings in their correspondence.

"Must we still do the whole smoke and mirrors act? You know fine well I have seen all of your department's personal details, and, if I'm correct in my assumptions that we're dealing with Dawlish and Fleck today, I have seen your bank statements with highly questionable charges to emporiums I'm absolutely not old enough to even enter yet." Ciel handed his hoodie and to Sebastian, and tucked his sunglasses on to his t-shirt collar, before taking a seat, crossing his legs and facing the glass panel with a cocked eyebrow that Sebastian could only just make out in the shadowed reflection.

A voice from the other side of the glass coughed nervously before it replied, "W-well, young master Phantomhive, it's lovely to meet you too."

"Of course. And why have you summoned me here today?"

Sebastian smiled to himself, folding the hoodie neatly over his arm. A few years ago, Ciel had at least attempted to be polite to the people he worked for, but after a near never-ending series of careless mistakes with their data, he had dropped all pretence of civility; the men behind the glass knew fine well he was too important to chastise for his cheek.

"...The Queen has a task for you."

"Well I had figured that much, I'm not an idiot."

"Quite. She- she is slightly concerned about a data leak at the moment, concerning parliament's outgoings."

"More expenses scandal?"

"We've tried to talk with them as you suggested, but they- they don't seem to appreciate being told how to spend their money from a billionaire teenage boy."

"And why the hell did you tell them it was me suggesting they should maybe not spend so carelessly? Not that it is even their money, it's taxpayer's money. Honestly. How is this nation still standing when it's run by idiots?"

"My Lord, I will speak with them again, I swear. The Queen just wants this one last scandal covered up before it gets out, she doesn't want the country's reputation suffering further."

"I'll make all evidence gone by tonight. Give me the details."

A file was slid through a drawer beneath the glass pane, which he quickly snapped up. There was no point trying to read it in this light - he'd look at it later.

"That everything today?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'll be off, then."

He rose without a goodbye, walked for the door without checking Sebastian was following, and held out his hand for his hoodie without looking back. He checked his reflection in the polished marble, slipping his sunglasses back on, before stepping out of the building, and entering the car that was still waiting for him.

"Home then, my Lord?"

Ciel nodded. Sebastian instructed the driver, whisking them back to the manor.

Ciel began work immediately after getting home, opening his laptop and curling up on the chair in his office. Sebastian knew the boy preferred not to be disturbed while working on government cases, so began to prepare for dinner instead. Baldroy should, of course, have been responsible for that, but he had taken it upon himself to experiment with the microwave earlier that week, testing why exactly you weren't supposed to put metal inside them. He was promptly excused from the kitchen for the following fortnight, and, instead, was downstairs with Mey-Rin washing the linen.

The time flew by for Ciel - he often got lost in his work when it wasn't mindless nonsense, and hacking into computers in order to wipe any proof of government misdeeds that was already in the hands of the papers was exciting enough for him. Even if he didn't approve of the actions of the politicians he was protecting, he was under orders from the Queen, and he never could refuse her. Not that he would want to even if he could - his parents had done the same throughout their lifetime, as had generations before them, and he intended to uphold the family tradition.

Sebastian entered, announcing that dinner was nearly ready, startling Ciel from his focus.

"I'll just take it in here."

"The table is laid for you."

"But I'm working."

"And if you don't take a break from your work, you'll likely make a mistake and be annoyed at yourself for it."

Ciel scoffed. "And what if I do? I can just ask you to fix it for me." He looked smug, knowing fine well that his butler was unable to refuse a direct order, under the terms of their contract.

"You could. But then you wouldn't get any better."

Ciel rolled his eyes, silently conceding that he had a point. Sebastian may be able to fix his errors and do his work for him, but over the past few years he had developed a determination not to rely on him completely - to prove that he was capable without an... unfair advantage.

He finished off, covering his tracks and deleting all traces that he had been in the system, then closed the laptop, begrudgingly following his butler to the dining hall.

After dinner, Ciel finished his work covering up the scandal, and reported to head office with a text containing the codeword 'tamed' and nothing else, as was specified in the file (which Sebastian had promptly destroyed after it was no longer necessary).

With the rest of the evening free, Ciel immediately demanded his console back. Sebastian agreed, but made a point to set it up in the lounge, rather than in the boy's bedroom, to avoid a repeat of the previous night. He watched as his Lord sat on the floor in front of the television and diligently work to complete a new game from the one he had confiscated before. Occasionally he would instruct Sebastian to take notes if he found a glitch, or thought of a way to improve it, but mostly he played wordlessly, only nodding if Sebastian made a suggestion of his own, trusting that he would write down any observations for his later consideration.

The work of a modern butler was far different from what Sebastian had been anticipating when he had first been called to serve Ciel, functioning more as a personal assistant most of the time. The fundamental principle was the same, however - he attended to his master's every need, ensured he got to where he needed to be and did what he needed to do, and, after five years, he knew Ciel almost better than Ciel knew himself. On the plus side, while he was expected to wear a suit in public, while they were around the house, or undercover, Ciel had deemed it 'stuffy' and 'old fashioned', and instructed him instead to change into practical casual clothes (although he did still expect a certain level of neatness).

It just went to show how much you could miss if you didn't pay attention. The last Sebastian knew, all butlers wore tailcoats and didn't have any technology to deal with. But he could hardly complain - being in hell for a century did get rather dull and the new, modern world was full of surprises. For example, children from wealthy aristocratic families who summoned demons in a fit of desperation, seeking revenge in exchange for their soul, had a whole new arsenal of interesting weapons, both traditional and psychological, to use against their enemies.

The past had been nice, but he decided long before that he preferred the present. Being able to assist his master in technological warfare was far more fun, and it wasn't like he didn't still have to protect Ciel from time to time with a brutal murder of an enemy. A win-win situation, really.


	2. Drug Dealers and the Nature of Revenge

There had been a spate of drag-trafficking crimes based in London lately, moreso than usual. Ciel already knew this before he was informed by her Majesty's department, but he tended not to get personally involved in cases unless he was requested. The government liked to think they knew what they were doing, despite employing mostly crusty old men that hadn't improved their computing knowledge since 1975, and for Ciel to intrude without being asked made them somewhat grouchy at the best of times. Besides, if he chased down every crime he was aware of in Great Britain he'd never have any time to work with his games company, or do his paperwork, or get tutoring, or browse the horrible wastelands of the internet. No, he kept his nose out of things unless he was called upon.

Unfortunately for his dreams of spare time, his work phone buzzed at 4.45pm, meaning he couldn't pretend he'd shut it off and simply ignore it 'til the next day. The coded string of numbers he had been sent indicated he should be in town to meet with Her Majesty's dear department in half an hour. He groaned loudly and handed the phone to Sebastian, who also sighed deeply.

"That's utterly unfair, they know fine well I've set boundaries with them, unless the Queen herself wishes to speak directly to me I am not to be contacted with work after 5pm."

"Technically, they contacted you before 5pm. "

"That's their loophole. I was CONTACTED before 5, but the meeting is after, and they'll expect me to get as much done tonight as possible - it'll be to do with the bloody drug rings, too, so I'll be up all night."

Sebastian listened to Ciel's rants about the men he worked for as patiently as possible. He had the greatest respect for the Queen herself, but she often couldn't risk contacting him directly, and he was landed with these incompetent go-betweens instead.

He swiftly pulled on his undercover clothes; a hoodie too large for him, a blonde wig with a beanie hat on top of it, and a pair of large sunglasses.

Sebastian drove, instead of the usual chauffeur, to ensure they arrived on time. In the back seat, Ciel frantically typed out an angry-sounding message on his laptop, likely to the people he was about to meet with. Sebastian couldn't be sure, however - a lot of people received angry emails from his master.

The place was deserted again, as usual, but Ciel didn't even bother being polite to the staff that were letting him in as he entered, storming through the security gate without even a glance at them and descending upon the dark room they always met in. He slammed the door open and demanded "WHAT do you want at this time of the evening?"

A timid voice from the other side of the glass replied, "S-sir, I'm sorry, you're slightly early, they'll be here in two minutes."

He bit his tongue, and Sebastian rested a hand upon his shoulder, in an attempt to ground him so that he didn't explode at the poor idiot sent in place of the real idiots he was about to verbally eviscerate.

He paced the darkened room, trying to compose himself, until he took a deep breath, apparently finding some degree of inner zen calm, and shed his disguise, handing his hoodie to Sebastian and requesting he fix his wig hair for him. Once he considered himself presentable (which was not terribly difficult, in a darkened room), he sat upon the chair, folding his arms across his chest, applied the darkest glare he could muster, and waited.

"Ah, you've arrived, Master Phantomhive!" came a jovial voice from beyond shortly after. "Wasn't expecting you to be early."

"I could say that I wasn't expecting you to be late, but that would be utterly dishonest of me. It is-" he checked his watch, illuminating it partly so they could see the anger on his face from the glow it gave off, "5.19pm. This had better be extremely important."

"It is, it is, don't worry. I am sure you're likely aware, with your finger on the button as it is, but there have been some worrying drug trafficking cases in London lately, and we've intercepted some communications to a man we believe to be a high-heading drug dealer. We have the info we could collect in a file for you, but we need someone on the field who can access their technology very quickly, and we know that you are skilled in real-time interception... This may be dangerous, so we do have a team ready to back you up in case things get a little hairy."

"They won't be necessary. I have my own team."

"We would far prefer if you used ours." It wasn't a gentle suggestion.

"If I use yours, I won't get the job done. Leave me alone with this." He refused to negotiate further.

The voice beyond the glass sighed, sliding the file through to him.

"The queen may trust you, young man, but the government does not. We would much like to know how such a young boy can accomplish so much."

"I'm sure you would. Unfortunately for you, that's none of your business. I answer only to Her Majesty." He stood, and bowed, smirking. "Have a good evening. I'm pretty sure your favourite gambling site will keep you occupied through the long lonely nights without your wife."

He left before the man on the other side of the glass could fully articulate a sentence that wasn't just angry blustering and swearing, re-applying his disguise on the way.

The drive to the location detailed in the file wasn't terribly far but unfortunately London traffic was terrible as ever, and getting parked was a nightmare too. Sebastian had a tendency to force the car into wherever it would fit regardless of legality and deal with any parking fines and wheel clamps later, which proved to be the case this time. They exited and walked around the corner to a café opposite the building they had discovered would be their target. It claimed to be a vehicle repair shop on the sign, but according to their sources it hadn't been used for that purpose in quite some time. They settled in, ordering a coffee each, and Ciel swiftly set up his laptop and tools necessary for spying on the operation across the road. Sebastian took his own tablet out and monitored the situation in the way he was expected to - receiving messages from Ciel as he sat opposite, containing information too sensitive to be spoken out loud. It was transmitted through a linked system they had devised to be impenetrable and undetectable for this purpose exactly.

They assumed the guise of a teenager with his guardian, enjoying a pleasant cup of coffee together and leeching the WiFi - entirely innocuous. They had perfected the art of Ciel performing as a bratty teen (although this did not take much effort on Ciel's part) as Sebastian asked him about his day, how school was going, sounding concerned and interested in his life. Ciel's responses were usually either shrugs and variations of the response, 'fine', or some manner of believable lie. He, of course, didn't go to school - he would hardly be able to work and keep up studies at the same time, so Sebastian performed as his primary tutor, and he learned anything he needed to from home. It was doubtful any institution would have anything of benefit for Ciel to learn, anyway.

On longer missions, usually when they were staking out, Ciel actually pretended to be nice, talking about interests and hobbies he didn't have, working on both his acting and lying skills just to pass the time and fend off the boredom, but tonight was a mostly nonverbal night - even the messages Sebastian received on his tablet were terse and coded. The first translated to, "minimum of 5 inside right now judging by mobile signals."

"5 signals or 5 men?" Sebastian fired back. To someone peeking over his shoulder it would appear that he was writing a response to a comment on a news site, saying something entirely different, but luckily they didn't appear to have any nosy onlookers. Better safe than sorry, in any case.

"5 men. Each of them has several phones, drugs dealers tend to."

He didn't elaborate on how he knew any of this, but Sebastian trusted it silently, waiting for orders to do something more within his realm of talent. He could now code and crack moderately well - better than he needed to in order to escape most tight situations he got himself into - but even as a demon he couldn't work as fast as his master, with a lifetime of experience. He could, however, intervene physically when necessary. His strength was unparalleled, as was his speed. Ciel, comparatively, was still weak and unfit - as a child, his family had hoped he would outgrow his asthma and overall poorly nature, but no such luck.

The time dragged on slowly, as they had to wait for a suitable moment to approach the premises - his tracer had detected a series of cameras surrounding the premises , and if they went in too early they would surely be detected and at least some of the people within would escape. Ciel had been scanning through the texts and data on the phones he had found, trying to determine who exactly was inside by the info he could gather from them, but so far they all seemed to be low-level and unthreatening men with little influence.

One of the texts indicated that the man they were most interested in catching would arrive at 7pm. In that case, they had 50 minutes left in which to act.

Ciel fired over a set of detailed instructions, then gave Sebastian the order, lowering his sunglasses.

"Go across and deal with it."

Sebastian nodded, paid for their drinks, and told the waitress he had to go attend to an emergency, asked if she could keep an eye on Ciel. He crossed the road, disappearing out of sight around the corner of the building. Ciel, of course, didn't beat an eyelid at being left alone.

Inside, there was the crunch of plastic and metal - to anyone observing the CCTV feed, there would have been nothing to see but an empty room, before a sudden violent sparking, and then nothing, as each camera was swiftly obliterated without a trace of the culprit on the footage. A few rooms away, the man who should have been paying attention to these screens, was chatting with a girl online who had a boyfriend but, according to him, that shouldn't matter - he intended to do lewd things to her anyway, and seemed happy to go into detail about these things instead of doing his job.

(Across the street, the 'girl' in question, asked him if he could maybe go to the bathroom and provide her with a photograph of what he had to offer.)

Sebastian entered an empty room, the screens that should have been displaying the cameras now all displaying errors, and the computer running them unattended. He inserted a pen drive, ran a program contained on it that ensured any footage of him that had been uploaded to other servers already was erased from them too, and waited patiently as it did its work, listening carefully in case the incompetent man in charge of them returned. Thankfully, he seemed to be preoccupied with getting a good enough picture to show a thoroughly uninterested Ciel, who stalled him further by spamming him, rendering it difficult for him to get a suitable picture with the phone constantly vibrating.

A sound notified Sebastian that the program had finished running. This was his cue to plant an .exe file on the desktop, withdraw his pen drive, and run the file. The screen didn't appear to change, but Ciel observed from across the road that the program was working as expected, shelling the machine from the inside out, deleting every file at an alarming rate, leaving behind only a bare-bones replica of the screen that was previously displayed, one which would disintegrate into a multitude of errors, and then, nothing, as soon as it was touched by the next user.

The long-promised photograph of inappropriate nature finally arrived on Ciel's screen, and he promptly deleted it, blocking the man immediately, and notifying Sebastian, but his butler had already left the control room when the pervert manning it returned. He was already downstairs, and the four men in charge of welcoming the head of the operation had had their necks broken and their bodies morbidly arranged to look as if they had taken to napping on the job. The pervert had rushed downstairs in a panic after the computer had, as far as he could tell, spontaneously died on him, unfortunately walking in on Sebastian finishing up, and didn't have the sense to about-turn silently and run for his life. He never did find out that the girl he had been talking to had blocked him, nor that she was actually a 15 year old boy, and that the boy was the one instructing the butler that rather swiftly and messily ended his life.

Ciel packed up his laptop and swung the bag over his shoulder, smiling and waving goodbye to the waitress who had been tending to their table, explaining he got a text from Sebastian and he'd be picked up around the corner. He followed the route Sebastian had taken to enter the premises, around the back of the building and entering through a side-door that was woefully poorly secured even before Sebastian had come along. He made his way through the halls, knowing exactly where he was headed as he had already studied the building's floor plans. Situating himself in the room with the dead bodies, he hid his bag behind a cardboard box, and shed his disguise, facing away from the entrance their target would come through. Above him, in the metal rafters, was his butler, perched patiently.

"5 minutes, my lord."

"I know. He's on his way."

Sebastian nodded, and the pair lapsed into silence as they waited.

Then, the grinding noise off the door opening signaled the beginning of the show. The bodyguards entered first, and spotted Ciel immediately. They visibly relaxed as Ciel turned around, assuming him to be just a harmless child, letting their guard down for long enough. Sebastian dropped down from above, between the boss and the door, which he secured shut, shot the 4 bodyguards, then held a knife to the boss's throat. It was a flurry of action in quick succession - the boss was clearly still trying to process what had just happened when the knife met his throat, but Ciel just watched with a bored expression as the bodies of the guards Sebastian had dealt with collapsed to the floor one after the other with a succession of thumps and dying gasps.

It had turned out to be relatively simple, after all. He checked his phone - he suspected they would be home by supper.

They delivered the man to Scotland Yard with a bag over his head and a note attached, stamped with the Phantomhive seal. They'd know what to do with him. Their responsibility ended there.

"We hardly needed to be involved in any of that, if they were anywhere near competent," Ciel complained as they returned home, tossing his hoodie in the general direction of the coat-stand, missing by about a foot. "If they must employ a teenager to do their dirty work they must be even less capable than I previously feared."

Sebastian patiently picked up the hoodie and hung it up properly. "Perhaps it may be beneficial for them for you to refuse your assistance. They may actually attempt to train their force up to standard without you to use as a crutch." Ciel paused at that, pondering. He didn't deign to reply, instead settling down in the large living room, kicking his shoes off. "You would, of course, be entirely justified in your refusal," Sebastian continued. "You do have an education to attend to, as well as your company." He handed Ciel his laptop and switched the television on for him, before sitting beside him on the sofa.

"I doubt the Queen would be exceptionally pleased about it if I did."

"To be perfectly honest, I've suspected for quite some time that many of the errands they have you running aren't actually her requests."

"You think so?" He asked. To most, his tone sounded pleasantly conversational, but Sebastian, having known him for 5 years, picked up on an undercurrent of irritation, likely from suspecting that Sebastian was correct.

"I am fairly certain. Perhaps the best way to find out would be to ignore their calls for a while and see if the Queen herself gets involved. If she doesn't, you have your answer. If she does, I will take full responsibility."

Ciel nodded, retrieved his work phone from his pocket, and handed it to Sebastian. "Block their number."

The following few weeks were spent blissfully free of government matters, with absolutely no word from Her Majesty, confirming what they had deduced. This - unfortunately for Ciel - opened up more time for lessons, and, worse, social obligations.

Lizzy requested a video call one evening when she found out he was free at dinner time for once (Sebastian pleaded innocence, swearing he hadn't told her, and Ciel noted that the other servants were suspiciously nice to him for the remainder of that day). She had been studying in Paris, at an all-girls' boarding school, and hadn't been able to visit terribly often in the past few years as a result of that. He didn't mind speaking to her, exactly, quite enjoying hearing from her via text and email every now and then, but the dinner time calls were always an affair he'd rather avoid, as she insisted on turning them into a long-distance date, requesting he light a candle at his table, and she would at hers - it was all rather too intimate for him to enjoy. But the servants apparently found it "cute". He strongly suspected Mey-Rin had been surreptitiously texting her trying to arrange this.

Still, he attempted at least not seem entirely irritated by it, even if he couldn't quite manage to be enthusiastic about it. He was somewhat elusive with facts as they chatted, insisting he was still terribly busy and he absolutely would not be able to make this a regular event, but she didn't seem to mind terribly. Apparently her studies had been going well, and she filled him in in great detail about them.

Towards the end of the meal, she asked quietly, "Are there any other people in the room just now?"

Ciel looked up at the servants who had been peeking around the door and raised an eyebrow, banishing them with simply a look, then replied, "Just Sebastian."

"Can... can you ask him to leave please? I'd like to talk to you alone for a bit..." She seemed oddly nervous. He waved to Sebastian, who took the unspoken order to leave the room.

"He's gone. Is something the matter?"

She played with what little food was left on her plate, avoiding looking directly at the camera. "I... You know how we're, um. Our parents always talked about us getting married and stuff, and we've been kind of a... a thing? Since we were kids?"

Ciel's stomach tightened uncomfortably. He liked Elizabeth, truly, but he never was comfortable with the relationship they had been almost forced into, yet was never quite able to bring himself to end it officially. He braced himself for what he expected to be a difficult question, or a request he'd have to deny, as he made a sound of affirmation he hoped didn't sound too strained.

"I, um. Phew." She took a deep breath and put her fork down. "I love you, Ciel. I love you a lot." His stomach knotted, then, sure he was going to have to hurt her and let her down, opening his mouth before he'd figured out what he was going to say, but she cut him off. "No. Let me finish, let me speak. I love you but I've been thinking. I... I think I love you more like family. I mean, you are my cousin, but you know what I mean. And- this is really hard to say, but, I think we need to not be together any more. Not just because I love you more like family but because I've kind of realised lately that... I kind of... I like girls."

That was not where he had been expecting the conversation to go at all, and, for once in his life, he was absolutely speechless. Lizzy waited patiently for him to reply, but soon realised a reply wasn't forthcoming.

"Are... are you alright, Ciel? I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you, I just- I figured I should let you know, I'm really sorry..."

"Don't- don't apologise," he replied, slowly finding his voice again. "You're a lesbian?"

"Yep."

"You're gay."

"Very."

"You're certain?"

"I'm in an all-girls' school and I have never been more certain of anything in my life." Lizzy didn't expect to hear Ciel laugh so freely for the first time since he was 10 after admitting this. "It's not a joke! I really do, and I had hoped you would have been supportive!" Mostly, she sounded angry, but there was a hint of hurt and sadness to her voice, that prompted Ciel to stop laughing and start speaking.

"No- Lizzy, I'm very supportive. I considered you to be more like family too for longer than I can remember but I never knew how to tell you because I was afraid I'd hurt you, but this is perfect. And you're in an all-girls' school. You're probably surrounded by other lesbians. I- I thought you were going to ask me about if we were going to get married, because I'm nearly 16, I had been avoiding-" he burst out laughing again. The unusual noise attracted the attention of his butler, who entered the room cautiously. He raised a hand to signal to him that everything was fine, throwing out a genuine smile which caught Sebastian entirely off-guard.

The pair chatted for longer than they had in years after that, Ciel no longer worrying that he was leading her on when he had no intention to marry her, and Elizabeth no longer denying to herself that she simply wasn't attracted to him. He felt young again - no pretending, no worrying about his future.

He had lost a girlfriend, but he had instead regained a best friend.

Sebastian had insisted they end the call after a good few hours, and the pair had begrudgingly agreed, promising each other they'd talk more often.

"You seemed to have a better time than usual," Sebastian stated, not even attempting to mask that there was some underlying accusation to his words.

"I did. I really did." Ciel had barely stopped smiling since he had found out, and it was such an unusual expression to him that it was causing his jaw to ache.

"Do I need to call in wedding planners?" he asked with a smile, attempting to sound cordial, but there was a strong undercurrent of scorn.

Ciel stared back at him, confused. "Were you not eavesdropping?"

"A butler does not pry into his master's personal matters, my Lord."

"I just assumed you- no. No, we definitely do not need wedding planners. Sebastian, she's gay. She likes girls. I'm off the hook. I don't have to marry her, we can just be friends again."

Sebastian's blank look of shock did nothing to dampen Ciel's spirits - in fact, it set off another giggle fit, something Sebastian had never seen the boy suffer from before.

Getting him to go to bed that night was a herculean task. He was used to dealing with a stubborn, moody Ciel, but a hyperactive and truly happy one was entirely foreign to the demon. Sebastian's bewilderment only added to Ciel's amusement, until he had to simply give up on enforcing a sensible bedtime and instead chose to simply sit with the boy and listen to him talk about himself and Elizabeth when they were children, how well they got along, and how he had hated their family's insistence.

He realised, as Ciel began to yawn and his speech began to slow, that he knew very little about the boy's life before he arrived in it up until that night. They had gotten closer in the past year, certainly - when Ciel was 14, Sebastian had confided in him that he was, in fact, in no rush to consume his soul; that he was actually rather enjoying working as his butler. This was mostly to make Ciel shut up as he had been accusing Sebastian frequently of being nothing more than a savage hungry beast, but it wasn't a lie - but he had never willingly told Sebastian anything about himself that wasn't necessary up until that point.

When Ciel finally fell asleep mid-sentence, Sebastian picked him up, carried to bed, and tucked him in gently, pondered the nature of revenge as he watched over his master. Upon forming the contract, they both intended the nature of Ciel's revenge to be death of the people that caused his suffering, but they never did specify exactly. Sebastian wondered, although it may be unorthodox, if perhaps it could be considered revenge if the boy were to be happy, in spite of what he had been subjected to - if, by sheer bloody-mindedness, he survived, flourished, lived a long and rich life. Of course, if he had to wait longer still to eat, he would likely be on the brink of starvation by the time he got to finally taste what he had earned, but possibly the taste of a soul that was fuelled with bitter and angry vengeance, and has, despite that, been infused with happiness... Perhaps that would be worth starving for.


End file.
